Greatest Country In the World?

I'm sad for an American who thinks they live in a great country, or even a decent country. The only time you would be a better country is if you were compared to a country less than first world. I have nothing against American citizens, but I do have a problem when they are taught to believe in fallacies, and when they are taught to take pride in something deplorable. The fact is, as an everyday person your life would be so much better in ANY other first world country, and it almost makes me sick that a lot of Americans don't know this. Your country is adamant on keeping you fat and stupid while they take everything from you. And they can and will continue to do this because it is them who keep you uneducated enough to be able to sing "land of the free" when, compared to others, you are far from free. America would be great to live in if you are rich. But what if something happens to you? Even just getting pregnant could ruin you financially for the rest of your life. You are always going to be stupider than others if you don't independently educate yourself on the vast amount of subjects the American education system won't teach you. (i.e. simple geography) The thing I hate the most about the American system is that they have all the funds, power and means necessary to make their country the best, as they claim, and yet they don't. They continue to poverize their citizens, they tax you on your money winnings? How is that even fair in the least? They send your children to go die in unnecessary wars, and then try and convince you that they are doing some kind of service to their country when they are not. They have damaged all relationships with other nations and everyone is just itching for them to show the right amount of venerability to take them down. China is already pretty much there. You have too many people who are technically in poverty for you to say you treat your citizens decently. How much does it cost you to break a leg? Get a stitch? Even just go to get a check-up? What other country could deny a person visibly in need because their paper work doesn't check out? You brag that you have the best Universities, but how many average American citizens could even qualify to get in? Not many. Most of all, even the most proud Americans wouldn't be able to justify the poor treatment and services they receive, and I feel for you. If I were American I wouldn't want to leave; I'd want to make it better. But there is only so much you can do with a country rich with corruption in their history. Canada has got it, France gets it, England, Japan, Switzerland, Denmark, the list goes on and on. What do you think it would take for even the proudest American to give up and just decide to immigrate?

F*** the Police

This weekend in Toronto, the G20 summit took place to chaotic response. It had been built up forever; $1 billion dollars spent on security and fake lakes for the 20 leaders to schmooze in front. For days before there were cop cars lining every street and a security guard on every corner. There were even an abundance of cameras that were popping up along main streets like Yonge. You'd think the cops would be prepared for the worst, because the worst happened.

Needless to say, even before the G20 began there were thousands of people up in arms! No one agreed with the amount of money put into one weekend for 20 rich leaders, nor did they agree with the location. Why hold such an event in such a congested and hectic city? These are the people who turned down the Olympic games in Toronto because they saw it as just an obstacle that kept them from getting to work on time. So why would the government go ahead and spend OUR money on something 9.9/10 people strongly disagree with? DEMOCRACY at it's finest. I've been reading the paper religiously throughout last week, and every single discussion or poll of the upcoming G20 summit were all negative. Ah, to live free.

So naturally, tens of thousands of people decided to get together in different ways to protest. There were marching and biking protesters all along the streets all weekend, some peaceful and some not. But I think one of the biggest symbols of disapproval was demonstrated the day before the summit was to begin: the town was deserted. If you've been to Toronto, or any big metropolis, you'd understand how extremely RARE that is. Not only did everyone disagree, but they were so fed up with what was to come that the majority of people decided on leaving town, myself included. Turns out that was a very smart choice. The protests that started peaceful were quickly tainted by the menaces who quickly threw on black clothing, dispersed from the group and started creating chaos. They smashed storefronts (mostly targeting bigger companies, especially Starbucks), grafettied the walls with slogans like "Class War", and set a total of four cop cars on fire. We watched the live feed of the cop cars burning with a crowd of people surrounded as the flames grew rapidly, but with one thing missing: no cops. No cops? Why were there no cops there when a car of THEIRS was engulfed in flames and making small explosions while citizens were in harms way? The reporter even commented, saying she didn't understand why there were no cops, if not just concerning the personal safety of the people they are "sworn to protect". Interesting how they can spend $1 BILLION on security and mere rioters can get ahold of 4 cops cars, all in DIFFERENT AREAS and douse them in flames.

But, of course, the cops weren't gonna let everyone think they weren't doing their jobs that entire Saturday. Nope, the next day they decided to take action! On Sunday there were major protests that were going on since the day before (yes, people protested the entire night). People young and old went marching carrying signs of Peace and Love, while another large group took to the streets on their bikes to protest. I guess in retaliation for their lost vehicles, the cops went ape shit, shooting gas into the screaming faces of protesters and grabbing random marchers and hauling their asses off to a detention centre. In one day the cops recklessly arrested 800 people. 800! One guy was sent in the detention centre for unknowingly taking a orange from a crate that belongs to the cops. The entire weekend, about 900 people were arrested. People were even arrested protesting outside the detention centre against people getting arrested for protesting. The weekend proved to be a FAIL! on all counts.

One, the peaceful protesters were snubbed, and the media and government alike, LOVED IT! Instead of the peaceful protesters getting any kind of message across, the news and the papers have all been entirely focused on the mayhem caused by, and I quote, "thugs". So, now Stephen Harper's big ass head has just swelled another two sizes, because now he can go around saying, "See, we DID need to spend $1 billion!" OR MAYBE IT SHOULD NEVER HAVE BEEN IN TORONTO IN THE FIRST PLACE! Now, not only do WE have to pay for that big $1 billion tab, we also have to fork it up to the city for repairs caused by the summit only because NO ONE WANTED IT.

Two, thanks to asshole, stupid-face Harper, Toronto is now seen as a dangerous, out of control place. America was even telling its citizens not to travel to Toronto because of the dangers. So, we lose money in tourism. Isn't that great after spending $1 billion? We use the same subway station and trains that were used in the 20's, and yet we are spending $1 billion dollars on ONE weekend, building fake lakes that are 6 inches deep and, therefore, completely useless.

And three, we've opened ourselves up to more crime. These crazy protesters that relentlessly went about damaging everything in their wake; most of them weren't even from Toronto! Apparently, those who were most against the G20, and happened to be violent by nature, got people from all over who are, you could say, professional protesters who use the Black Bloc tactic. I'm not gonna say that no Torontonians were at fault, but I think the summit did provoke them to seek outside, sinister help that maybe wasn't such a good idea. 450 people from Quebec took the bus over to Toronto to participate in the crimes, and only 125 of them returned since they all got BUSTED. They are a group of protesters known for being anti-capitalist, anti-state, and anti-authority, who think the Black Bloc way is a legitimate and affective way of protesting.

So, what has this G20 lead us to? Well, it's opened our eyes to how insignificant our voices can be, that the government would go ahead and spend our money on something we all disagree with (obviously!). But maybe it's also shown the government what kind of extreme lengths people will go to when they feel ignored and defied, and it's not over. People are outraged by the total disregard for safety and human rights the cops displayed this whole weekend, and they are protesting more outside all cop venues in the city. It is totally unnecessary for 900 people to have to go to court and be slapped with a criminal record because they were voicing their thoughts after police were pissed off at unrelated people who were actually a threat. Remember when they were explaining before that the security wouldn't get violent until protesters were displaying violence? Yeah, well apparently that meant if people were overly violent one day, so much so that cops went and huddled in a corner, anyone who was caught saying anything against the summit were part of the group of people who did the violence before and need to be beaten and handcuffed. Mostly, I hate cops. They are egotistic assholes who misuse their authoritative power to belittle and harass others. Little shit heads who probably got bullied/did the bullying in highschool and are making up for it in their adult life. That's why there are so many crooked cops who get into the drug business or just like beating the shit out of anyone if they can; they're FUCKING ASSHOLES.

So FUCK THE POLICE. Anywhere and everywhere. Whether you live in the formerly peaceful country of Canada, or the segregated country of America, the police have CONSTANTLY shown complete lack for human decency and rights. The best advice is to not join in all the madness, but if you feel strongly against something the government does, and you indeed will for SURE at one point in your life, you shouldn't have to fear that you're gonna get beaten, arrested or killed because you have an opinion. FUCK THE POLICE!

Online Sperm

A hospital in Washington D.C. has set up a website where their users can search through the donor's information so they can pick out that perfect sperm. Not only can they skip past all the ugo's and fatties, they can scrutinize what he likes to do in his spare time, his religion and even which kind of pets he prefers. I loved how at the intro of the article it optimistically pointed out, "Woman may not need to bother finding a husband soon." Do you think it's weird that the computer in the new 'go-to' spot to make a baby?

When I first read this, it kind of blew my mind. It's like super fast speed dating, where you don't even have to find out whether or not he's an asshole if he's hot enough. But I kind of disagree with some of the factors these wannabe mommy's are taking into consideration. For one; Religion. Does it really matter what religion he is; as if that's gonna pass on to your child? I highly doubt your baby is gonna come out praising Allah and you're gonna go - Ah, shoulda made sure he was a Christian! Isn't religion PURELY nurture related? Kids are actually very smart and insightful before their parents and society alike start to dumb them down.
Another quality this website lists is whether or not they like to help people, or do charity work; whether or not they're a good person. I know you probably wouldn't purchase the sperm of a known murderer or racist, but, again, aren't all those traits totally dependent on your upbringing? I mean, if you're a Jewish couple and you buy the sperm of a white supremacist, you think every Hanukkah he'd be bashing you and chanting, "White Power!"? Obviously not.

I mean, really, these kind of traits in a guy are only relevant if you're dating and/or planning on raising the child together! And that's certainly not the case if you're buying his sperm online. You should only be worried about what he looks like and his family's medical history. If he's a Mormon, you're child won't have to be. If he's an avid skier, your child could still hate skiing. And if he's Chinese...well, then you're kid will be half-Chinese.

The Slow and Painful Death of a Language

I know we all have email and cellphones now that make communicating a lot easier, but the act of speaking out of your mouth face to face with another human being is my preferred form of communication. Having a blog, I feel I should write everything out just as I would say it, and that's PROPER. I'm not totally against the use of slang, because in some ways it really has progressed our language, as well as the fact that different slang words can personify a certain era in time or a certain group of individuals. But, as of late, the average person has had to witness the complete butchery of the English language. It's to the point now that I cannot even understand people when they talk, and their first and ONLY language is ENGLISH! And the thing that horrifies me the most is, this is not rare; it's common! And not only common, but it's gone so far that people couldn't even pull out the actual proper way of speaking if they had to - because they don't know how! And despite what every rapper tells me, sounding like an idiot is not attractive AT ALL.

The decline in our language is a huge representation of society today; lazy and stupid. There are some who don't seem to find it to be as big a deal as I think it is. I don't wanna be that person who has troubles following a conversation because I'm trying not to keep tally of all the grammatical errors. So, I'm just gonna point out a couple of language rules that you fluent English speakers probably don't know, or don't care to practise.

1. The use of the word 'unique'
Think of the word unique like the word first. You cannot be the "most first" at anything, nor can you be "really first". You are either first or not. Same with unique. As well as infinite, complete and other definite words. Saying the "most unique" is like saying the "most dead". It's wrong.

2.Imaginary Words
These words are used so often, you'd never think that they actually don't exist!
-Hung. This is slang at it's finest. The only recently accepted way to use this word i, if you're "hung" up on someone, or you're talking about a man with a large penis. If you wanna say,"I hung up the phone," or, "He hung himself," you are wrong. It's "hanged". I hanged up the phone just as the man hanged himself. Just like "banged" isn't "bung".
-Brang. I had to look this one up, because I don't see how anyone could think this was a word, or come across a time when they feel they need to use it. But I guess someone might say something like, "Yesterday I had a party and Mary brang the dessert." HAHA...do I even need to correct this? (By the way, it's BROUGHT for those unfortunate enough not to know.)

3. You, I and me
I think most of us know this but find it easy to screw up. But you'd be surprised how many times I see on T.V. talk shows and even scripted shows where they're reading off of pre-written cue cards and still manage to get it wrong. Here's an example of how we commonly get mistaken in speech.
"Me and my friend went to the mall."
"The homeless man jumped right in front of my friend and I."
The easiest way of spotting an incorrect sentence is to take out the second person, so then it becomes,
"Me went to the mall." and "The homeless guy jumped right in front of I."
Doesn't really make sense does it? So, let's get it right people! Especially if your on T.V., cause it really makes you look retarded to someone with any kind of intellect.

4. Abbr. that make no sens.
This is basically absent in Canada (thank heavens!), but in America certain States use the term "Ya'll". So, going along with the rules of English, that would mean "ya'll" means "you all". And "you all" obviously must be used when addressing more than one person! So, am I the only one that finds it troubling that Dr. Phil ALWAYS says "ya'll" when addressing one person? Like, okay her and who? Who else are you talking to? Are you sure that "Dr." title isn't just a load of bullshit. Wait no, you got your diploma in the U.S.A. Ah, that makes more sense.

5. Mispronouncing
I admit, English isn't the easiest language to learn....when you have a different first language. For anyone who was born and raised to speak English first, there's hardly an excuse. So, some words can be tricky because how they are spelt and how they are said are sometimes nearly foreign to English usually because they are derived from another language. So let's go through a few that are commonly misused.
Foyer: is a French word we associate with the entrance space of a house. But, it is NOT said as it's spelt. In French, a word ending in "er" is actually pronounced A. Not ahhh but actually saying the letter A. So its foy-ay. Not foy-er. Never foy-er. Just don't do it, it's really stupid. Like calling a croissant a crescent. Oh, that's another one. Its Cra-saw...kinda. It's hard to spell out but trust me, I've studied French for over 6 years. It's kinda like saying Cra-song but cutting the G sound very short.
Mischievous: Mis-che-vous. Not mis-chee-vee-us. Miss-che-vis. Got it?
Colonel: Okay, this one even had me confused, and I can honestly think of no reason why it's even spelt or said like this at all. Maybe at first it was supposed to be pronounced Col-o-nel...but it's actually kernal. KERNAL. Yeah...i dunno. There's not even one R.

6. I don't like "U"
This is the one that gets to me the most because the U.S. has gone and made it official: they can't speak or write English if their lives depended on it because, they're dictionaries carry a whole new way to spell words from one of the most intricate and established languages in the world. Basically they went and fucked up something that was already accepted and used in many countries of the world because they can't process the letter "U" for some unknown reason. This list is endless, but here are a bunch of words that were stupidly changed for a bunch of stupid people:
Colour. (U.S. version = color)
Favourite to favorite
Honour to Honor
Unnecessary? Yes, very much so. Only in America can you teach your people a language wrong when everyone else is being taught the same language properly. How embarrassing!

7. Mr. Bush, you're wrong!
George W. Bush is a perfect example of American education gone wrong. Nearly every word that's not extremely simple is mispronounced by this guy. But hey, you don't have to know how to speak the only language you've ever been taught to run a country. Obviously that has no significance to your intelligence. Geez. Anyways here's some blunders:
- New-Cue-Lar. You'd think he'd at least try and learn a word he used as often as this one, but...no. So if YOU wanna say it and not look like a dumb ass, its pronounced New-Clear. That's it. Much simpler, and now that you hear it, doesn't it make more sense?
-Eye-Rack. So, apparently when Americans see a word that starts with I, they totally forget what to do with it. Oh and that's "it", not Eye-t. Er-rack. Err as in "ir" remember? It's a fir tree not a fire tree right? So Eye-rack makes no sense at all and just makes you look like you can't read.

8. Redundancies
Making redundancies doesn't make your point sound stronger, but makes you look like a fool. Just like you can't "rewind it back" (since the word rewind already implies going back), here are some common flubs.
Irregardless. Regardless means not regarded. For irregardless to make sense, it'd have to mean with regards. It's like saying shes anti-antisocial. Which means she is social? Do you think other languages have people fucking it up this bad? We really killed it dead.

So, if this has opened your eyes any bit, make sure you practise it and learn how to speak. In this day and age we don't have to settle for anything less than correct. And once you know the language, THEN you can alter it and slang it up all you want. But if there's ever a point in your life when you'll have to speak in front of people who expect the right usage of the English language, there is absolutely NO reason why you shouldn't be able to.

The Canadian Perception

Nearly every American cartoon show touches on it, and it's always practically the same. We Canadians are hockey loving, dog-sled riding Canucks who eat Canadian bacon and Beaver Tails constantly. We mispronounce 'about' and have to deal with living in a vast, frozen tundra. We are connected to arguably the most infamous country in the world and yet, even they know NOTHING about us. I was on Lamebook and an American teenager confessed that he hadn't even known Canada was a country. How is that possible? But sadly, it's true; Canada is probably one of the best and unknown countries in the world, joining the likes of countries such as Denmark and Iceland. So, being the proud Canadian that I am, I'd like to clear up a few pesky rumours.

1.The Canadian Accent...eh.
Canadians say eh, just like the English say right and the Americans say huh. It's not a very common thing you hear, but because we're known for it, when we do say 'eh' it's pretty funny. But I've been born and raised in Canada and NEVER have a heard anyone talk in an accent resembling the one we're "known" for. Maybe in Newfoundland or something but...nope. NEVER. (That includes the South Park accent too! And no, unfortunately we don't say 'guy' and 'buddy' all the time.) And no one says 'aBOOT'.

2. Hockey Lovers
What was I gonna say? Oh yeah, this one is completely and utterly...true. I think it's a pride thing. We don't have alot of things that are dominated by Canadians.

3. Igloos, Dogsleds and horrible weather
This may surprise some people but all of this is untrue! In fact, we have much better weather than about 50% of the states. Not only do one of the states get the first snowfalls every year, but in Toronto we never had one day with snow on the ground this winter. I know it was rare but that just shows you we're not as cold as you think. And I don't live in an igloo- nor have I ever seen one in real life. However, we do use dogsleds instead of cars here. AHHH got cha!

4. Our Health Care sucks
Our health care rocks! Watch Sicko. You know every single issue that they bring up in that movie? In Canada; nonexistent.

5. We're all a bunch of Frenchies
Saying all Canadians are like French-Canadians is like saying all Americans are like the ones on Maury. Or in Texas. Or Alabama. Or Bill O'Reilly. They sure do have a lot more deplorable examples than we do. (or Jessica Simpson)

6. Our diets consist of Canadian bacon, Maple syrup, Beavertails and beer.
I've had one Beavertail in my life. The rest is true. We love our beer, and every Canadian kid is able to say they've been on a Maple Syrup making field-trip. But, for the record, we do eat and drink other things - like Tim Horton's!

I hope that clears up some things, and I'm sure they are alot more misconceptions I don't even know about. And for the kids suffering from the American education system:
Canada is a country. Our capital is Ottawa but our best known city is Toronto. We have provinces, not States, and a Prime Minister, not a President. And to you, we are NOT overseas. (cough Britney Spears cough cough)

The Price of Being A Prince

I was walking around Toronto yesterday and I came across a bunch of new graffiti stencils that said, "Free Mark Emery" with a weed leaf beside it. So I thought I'd bring up this 'hot' topic. For those of you who don't know, Mark Emery AKA the Prince of Pot is a Canadian who was tried in the States for illegal distribution of a controlled substance to American citizens. Basically, an international drug dealer. But in reality, Mark Emery runs a website that sells marijuana SEEDS. Not the actual plant, or even the finished product; the seeds. Well, following the advice of his lawyers, Mark Emery is now serving a 5 year sentence and has been deported to the United States. Mark Emery is no stranger to controversy and has even been to jail before (for opening his store on Sundays back in the late 80's), but I honestly believe that he does not deserve to be there. First off, you should know that the Prince's seed selling business was up and running for 10 YEARS before it was shut down by a Vancouver Police raid. Prior to this, Mark Emery had no qualms about his business and even invited Canadian authorities into his shop to arrest him, in which they didn't. It was not until the United States Drug Enforcement Administration urged the Vancouver police to shut him down. They were complaining that his seeds were being sold to U.S. citizens and, as we all know, U.S. laws concerning marijuana are severe and unfair.

Being a Canadian, I find this pretty unsettling. On the most part, I agree with Mr. Mackey; Drugs ARE bad, and they can really interfere negatively with a person's life. But not ALL drugs are bad. In fact, some drugs are very good and weed is one of them. To me, there's not much you can say to convince me that weed is illegal for a good reason. I mean, if it was a purely recreational drug then I would feel different, but it's not! Aside from being super fun it has a lot of healthy benefits, especially when used as a pain killer. But the rep behind weed has become so poisonous that I don't think it will ever be fully accepted the way it should be; like alcohol. People have dealt with weed much like a child deals with being banned from a toy- they're gonna go out of their way to play with it. And alot of people argue it's a waste of time and it makes people lazy when really that's a load of bullocks. It doesn't make me lazy, and the guy who developed CNN smoked weed EVERYDAY. And just like some people like to have a coffee every morning or a drink after work - I like a bong hit. Does this make me a dangerous person? I'm not someone who hangs around on street corners asking people for a fix, nor am I a stupid couch potato. I pay my bills, work full-time, keep informed with the news and am very intelligent and well-read - and I smoke weed but I'm not a...criminal? And yet if I lived in the States I believe I would have been to jail already at least once, and my dreams of going to school or getting a good career would basically be ruined. I really don't find this fair! What if every time you went to the bar, the police were outside ready to arrest you for having a drink with your friends? Do you feel like your doing something criminal when you go out on weekends? If you've ever taken an Advil in your life - there, you've already done a drug worse than weed. Feeling dangerous? And I find it ridiculous that they place such a huge ban on a plant you can grow in your backyard. Just the fact that the States has celebrities talking about how much they blaze in interviews, and releasing any Judd Apatow movie into their American theatres while they're still arresting kids for possessing drug paraphernalia just shows how completely backwards that country is. It's almost unbelievable that they are even connected to a country like Canada. And I think that it really puts Canadians down. We are more known for actually caring for our citizens and are known to the world as one of the top countries for human rights, but anytime that Canada does something unfair and uncharacteristic, it's because of the States. Even the fact the weed is not legalized is because of the negative influence of the States. And look at the upcoming G20 summit. Before, Canada planned to discuss and support abortion but due to the States urges, it's been totally erased from being discussed at all. And now they are trying to make our health care more like the U.S.'s. What do you think? Do you think the States is keeping us crazy Canucks in line, or are they weighing us down? (I'm for the latter.) I personally think we should look to the East's examples and never look south again.